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• MentalEdge@sopuli.xyz ⁨4⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Then that’s exactly what I have done.

  I was able to read a shitton of manga at my local library as a kid. Not only that, if a volume, or a series, is missing, the Helsinki library system allows you to browse where every library item they have is, in every library in the tri-city area.

  It’s in a library far away? You can request it for lending, and it will be moved to a library of your choosing, where you can then go pick it up. There’s a copy in a nearby library? You can still request it be moved, but it’s faster to just go there, borrow it from there, and then to return it, any library will do, no need to travel back to the one you got it from.

  All the units they have are currently lent out? You can sign up to be in line to borrow one.

  I regularly put in requests to be able to check out entire series all at once, binging every single volume that existed of something in a single weekend. Then keeping track and putting in requests to have a copy available at my local library, right after publishing.

  Something you want isn’t available? You can still request it, and if there’s at least a couple people interested, it will probably get acquired. One Piece 103 in finnish is not yet out, and HelMet already has info on their site tracking 9 copies that they’ve ordered, with one person in line waiting to borrow one of them asap.

  What’s available? Well, not everything, but it’s a lot. The manga category currently has 6440 unique items. And HelMet cares about making sure there aren’t gaps. What’s the point of free libraries if you can’t read stuff from beginning to end?

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